The Not-Oscars 2012

(Originally posted at FabApp.)

It’s that time of year again, folks! What I like to call “movie Christmas.” And like an actual holiday, the Academy Awards often end up as more of a disappointment than anything else — any Oscars handed out to not-so-great nominated films like Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and The Iron Lady can be chalked up to the cinematic equivalent of “ugly sweaters from grandma we’ll throw in the back of the closet and never speak of again.” But it’s really the excitement leading up to the big show and the discussions of film it creates that make it all worthwhile.

So here’s where I like to make up for the Academy’s occasional lapses in good taste by recognizing the movies and performances that are really worthy of celebration. Because what has a group of thousands of filmmakers with decades of experience in the entertainment industry got on me?

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Gold Rush: Independent Spirit Award Winners 2012

And the Oscar winners have been announced! Congratulations, everyone! Thanks for playing and see you next year.

Okay, actually, these are the Independent Spirit Awards winners, but there’s a lot of overlap with tomorrow’s predicted champions. Traditionally, the Spirit Awards are meant to be a way to counterbalance the Academy’s ardor for more mainstream, bombastic fare. But not this year!

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‘Separation’ Anxiety: A Tense Iranian Drama Goes For The Gold

(Films discussed in this post: Trespass, Boy Wonder, A Separation, Passion Play, Tuesday After Christmas, The Trip, The Double, The Beaver.)

This is my 100th post in this blog, and coincidentally, this post also marks 100 reviews of 2011 films. As you’ll see, I’ve saved some of the most obscure for last.

Every year there are hundreds of films that fly off the radar. There are a number of different levels of visibility for a movie; some, you’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to miss hearing about, which covers most major studio releases. Then there are the indies that the majority of mainstream viewers won’t have heard about, but most film-savvy people will — we’re talking the Take Shelters, Martha Marcy May Marlenes, and Bellflowers of this world. There are a couple levels even below that, too — the ones only the really film-savvy will have seen or heard of, like The Arbor and Poetry. And then it keeps going, to films that were screened at festivals but not picked up for distribution, or shot and never released, until it’s a film that only you have heard of, because you made it up in your own mind.

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Hard In The City vs. The Golden Globes: Live Blog & Winners 2012

It’s the Golden Globes! And because I currently have nothing better to do, I am watching and blogging about them. (Nominees here, FYI.)

I’ll be doing some sort of live-blogging/recap as we go on, so… enjoy!

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Gold Rush: National Society Of Film Critics Winners 2012

And you thought it was all about the Oscars, didn’t you?

Nope. The Academy Awards are basically the last group to have their say about which films are the year’s most esteemed, and their picks don’t necessarily (or even often) reflect the feelings of the critical community, which is why you’ll see a lot more of The Tree Of Life, A Separation, and especially Melancholia below than you’ll see of them on the Oscars telecast.

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Gold Rush: The Golden Globe Nominees 2012

Ah, The Golden Globes. What can I say about The Golden Globes that hasn’t been said before?

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Gold Rush: BFCA Critics’ Choice Awards Nominees & Winners

Another day, another smattering of kudos from an organization most filmgoers don’t even know exists. This list keeps Hugo and The Artist on top of things, as will as giving The Help a little more awards-wind beneath its wings.

See the full list below.

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